Borderlands : Northumberland

Kingdom to County

Northumberland, more anciently known as `Northumbria', was
part of the great Anglo-Saxon kingdom of that name, with territory
extending from the Humber to the Firth of Forth. Present day
Northumberland, encompassing a much smaller area, lies mostly to the north of
Hadrian's Wall and is no longer a
kingdom, but it is the northernmost county in England. It stretches from
urban Tyneside to the rolling wilderness of the Cheviot Hills.
The hills still form the most imposing natural boundary between England and
Scotland.

Northumbria was one of the largest and most powerful kingdoms
of Anglo-Saxon England and had been a focus for Anglo-Saxon christianity, art
and learning centred on places like Lindisfarne,
Hexham and Jarrow but in its later years it suffered constant
invasion from the Danes and Scots.

Eventually the Northumbrian lands to
the north of the Cheviots and to the south of the Tees (Yorkshire) were
conquered respectively by the Scots and Danes so that the remaining
part of Northumbria was reduced to an Anglo-Saxon earldom comprised of
what later became the counties of Durham and Northumberland.

It was the Norman conquerors who divided this region into its
two main parts, creating the County Palatine of Durham
from the
southern portion of Northumbria, while the remainder of the Earldom to
the north of the Rivers Tyne and Derwent, continued to be known in
Latin as Northumbria or in English as 'Northumberland' as it still is
today.

Northumberland and Durham, though forming a remote and quite
distinct English `border region', developed notable social and
political differences. Durham, thus became a semi-independent state,
ruled by leaders known as `Prince Bishops', while Northumberland, more
isolated and vulnerable to Scottish attacks, was divided into liberties and shires, which like Durham were often exempt from the writ
of the King.

Some of these Northumberland districts became northern
territories of Durham's Prince Bishops -
Norhamshire (alonsgide the Tweed), Islandshire (Holy
Island) and the neighbouring mainland) and
Bedlingtonshire. Other liberties were given to Norman
Barons, or powerful ecclesiastics who through their own self interest, were expected to defend
and protect them from the Scots in return for special privileges
granted by the king. These districts included, the Liberty of
Tynedale, and Liberty of
Redesdale.

The Liberty of Tynemouthshire centred on Tynemouth belonged to the Abbot
of St Albans and had extensive outlying lands across Northumberland and
Hexhamshire centred on Hexham was under the
direct control of the Archbishop of York. In other parts of Northumberland
power rested primarily in the hands of the Earls of Northumberland - 'kings
in the north' - and other minor barons.

Many of Northumberland's Norman barons, like the Umfravilles,
Lords of Redesdale, held a status almost equivalent to Durham's Prince
Bishops. It is these barons who were largely responsible for building
many of the grand castles, that are still a feature of the Northumbrian
landscape to this day. Most important of the Northumbrian barons, were
of course the Percys, of Alnwick Castle, who acquired land in the
county in the early fourteenth century.

A Battle Ground

As England's `Border County, it is not surprising that many
great battles have been fought on Northumbrian soil between the English
and the Scots. Most notable were the battles at Otterburn (1388) and at
Flodden Field (1513), but there were many other lesser known battles
and Border feuds fought in Northumberland. Until the Union of the
English and Scottish Crowns in 1603 life in the Border County could be
extremely dangerous and was often a one of strife and misery.

Stability, Law and order were of course gradually brought to
the Border region following the accession of James I to the throne in
1603. From then on the heyday of Border raids slowly came to an end.
Today the bloody Border past, has left Northumberland with a rich and
colourful history, heritage and folklore.

O come with me, Ghosts walk tonight, Victims of bloody border fight
Who made our English history, Grey phantom Percies lead the way
Against the Douglas chivalry, Grey ghosts of ancient mystery.
Lo! Watch them sweep o'er Flodden Field, Where all the flowers of Scotland died;
Death cannot slay the splendid pride Of those who fell but scorned to yield,
Who fought in vain, except to earn Their name upon the scroll of fame
And write in blood each hero's name Upon the stones of Otterburn.

From Frederick C Palmer's `The
Ghosts'

Castles, Peles and Bastles

A notable feature of Northumberland's heritage as a `Border
region', is that it has more castles than any other part of England.
Some of these castles are admittedly ruins, but many still stand as
very impressive monuments to the Border past. Surprisingly, apart from the
spectacular edifices at Bamburgh at
Dunstanburgh and the great medieval 'Windsor
of the North' at Alnwick many are
virtually unknown to people outside the region even though
Northumberland has been described by the great architectural historian
Nikolaus Pevsner, as the `English Castle County Par Excellence'.

In addition to the great castles, there are many other,
smaller fortifications scattered throughout the Northumberland
countryside, called Peles and Bastles, which stand as romantic and
often eerie reminders of the county's border past. Peles or Pele towers
are the most common. These are stone-built, oblong tower houses,
measuring approximately 40 feet by 30 feet, with walls 3 to 4 feet
thick.

Found on both sides of the border, the Pele towers were
virtually impregnable against raiders and marauders and were lived in
by the rich and poor alike. They usually consisted of a tunnel-vaulted
ground floor for storage and livestock refuge along with two or three
upper storeys accessible by a narrow spiral staircase. Access to a Pele
Tower could be gained through two sets of doors, the outer made of iron
the inner of oak. To ensure the tower's defences were complete, windows
in the Peles were very small and kept to a minimum. Border Pele towers can date from as early as the thirteenth, to as late
as the seventeenth century, but were all built to very much the same
pattern. The `Vicar's Peles' found in some parts of Northumberland such as that
at Elsdon or Corbridge are
so named because they were once inhabited by local vicars or rectors.

Bastle Houses are a variation on the Pele tower, but are a
lot less common. These are fortified farm houses rather than tower
houses and tend to be found in remoter areas of the border country,
usually not far from the border itself.

In Elizabethan and earlier times, the Pele Towers and Bastles
of Northumberland were often inhabited by lawless raiding clans called
the Border Reivers, which included once notorious families like the
Robsons, Armstrongs, Elliotts, Grahams and Dodds.

Borderland North of the Wall

Apart from the Castles, Bastles and Pele towers, arguably one
of the most dramatic monuments to Northumberland's border past is
Hadrian's Wall, but in fairness, though a symbol of the border country
it may well be, the wall never formed the boundary between England and
Scotland. In fact the wall was not, as is commonly thought built "to
keep the Scots out", for the Scots did not settle in Northern Britain
until centuries after Hadrian's Wall was built.

The real boundary between Scotland and England, can be as
many as fifty miles to the north of Hadrian's Wall and runs along the
heights of the imposing Cheviot Hills towards the coast near Berwick
upon Tweed. The greater part of the county of Northumberland actually
lies to the north of the ancient Roman frontier.